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Credit Sprint / Study guides / World History Unit 6

Credit Sprint's Guide to AP® World History, Unit 6: Consequences of Industrialization, c. 1750 to c. 1900

AP® weight 12–15%

The Industrial Revolution began in Britain and spread, changing production, cities, class structure and the global balance of power. Industrial states built empires and demanded raw materials, which reshaped Africa, Asia and the world economy.

Causes and effects of industrializationCausescoal, ironcapital, colonies Changefactories, steamrailroads Effectscities, classesimperialism The industrial revolution

What you need to know

  • Britain industrialized first because of coal and iron, capital, a stable government, colonial markets and agricultural improvements. Steam power, the factory system, textiles and railroads transformed production and transport.
  • Industrialization created an urban working class and a middle class, as well as slums, child labor and poor conditions. Reformers, unions and socialists such as Karl Marx responded, and new ideologies, such as liberalism and socialism, competed.
  • Capitalism expanded with joint-stock companies and banks. Laissez-faire thinkers such as Adam Smith argued for free markets, while critics demanded regulation and protection of workers.
  • Imperialism accelerated after 1870. Europeans carved up Africa at the Berlin Conference (1884–85), took control of Southeast Asia and India, and used the Maxim gun, steamships and quinine to extend power. The Scramble for Africa ignored existing ethnic and cultural boundaries.
  • Responses to imperialism included resistance, such as the Boxer Rebellion and the Sepoy Rebellion, and reform, such as Japan's Meiji modernization, which made Japan an imperial power by 1900.
  • Migration increased. Millions of Europeans moved to the Americas, while Indian and Chinese laborers moved under indenture to plantations and railways.

Exam traps

Watch forIndustrialization spread unevenly. Britain first, then Western Europe, the United States and Japan.
Watch forImperialism had economic, political, and cultural motives. Do not reduce it to a single cause such as raw materials.
Watch forResistance to imperialism took many forms, from armed rebellion to reform and cultural revival.

Key terms

  • Industrial Revolution: The shift from hand production to machines and factories that began in Britain in the late 1700s.
  • Factory system: A method of production that gathers workers and machines in one place under a manager.
  • Steam engine: A machine that uses steam to produce power, improved by James Watt and used in factories, mines and railroads.
  • Spinning jenny: An invention that allowed one worker to spin several threads at once and boosted textile output.
  • Railroads: A transportation technology that moved goods and people quickly and linked markets and regions.
  • Urbanization: The growth of cities as people moved from rural areas to work in factories.
  • Bourgeoisie: The middle class of business owners and professionals that gained wealth and influence in industrial society.
  • Proletariat: The industrial working class, a term used by Karl Marx.
  • Karl Marx: A thinker who argued in The Communist Manifesto that history is a story of class struggle.
  • Socialism: A set of ideas calling for public or collective ownership of the means of production.
  • Liberalism: An ideology that stresses individual rights, representative government and free markets.
  • Laissez-faire: An economic idea that governments should not interfere in markets.
  • Adam Smith: The author of The Wealth of Nations, who argued that free markets guided by self-interest create prosperity.
  • Labor union: An organization of workers formed to bargain for better wages and conditions.
  • New Imperialism: The late nineteenth-century wave of European, American and Japanese expansion into Africa and Asia.
  • Berlin Conference: A meeting of European powers in 1884 and 1885 that set rules for dividing Africa without African participation.

Practice questions

Five of the 42 Unit 6 questions in Credit Sprint. Every choice is explained in the app.

1. Which factor best explains why the Industrial Revolution began in Britain in the 18th century?
  1. Abundant coal and iron, capital from trade and empire,
  2. Britain had the largest population of any country in the world
  3. British factories were started by order of the Qing emperor
  4. Britain lacked coal and iron, so it had to invent substitutes
Show answer

Abundant coal and iron, capital from trade and empire,. Britain had resources, a growing market, colonial wealth and banks willing to invest, and its stable political system supported inventors and entrepreneurs.

2. Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations (1776) promoted the idea of
  1. state ownership of all property
  2. laissez-faire, in which markets run best
  3. the divine right of kings
  4. a ban on private trade
Show answer

laissez-faire, in which markets run best. Smith argued that competition and the 'invisible hand' guide self-interest toward general prosperity, an argument against mercantilist controls.

3. The growth of labor unions in the 19th century was a response to
  1. low wages, long hours and unsafe conditions in factories
  2. the end of all factory work
  3. a shortage of cheap goods
  4. an order from the pope
Show answer

low wages, long hours and unsafe conditions in factories. Workers organized to bargain collectively, at first facing legal bans and later winning recognition and reforms.

4. Indentured laborers from India and China in the 19th century were often sent to
  1. plantations and mines in the Caribbean
  2. European universities to study science
  3. Antarctica to build research stations
  4. Arabia to serve in the pilgrim fleets
Show answer

plantations and mines in the Caribbean. As slavery ended, planters recruited workers under contracts that frequently involved harsh conditions and debts.

5. The Chinese Self-Strengthening Movement (1860s-1890s) tried to
  1. copy Japan's constitution exactly
  2. invite Europeans to rule China directly
  3. abolish the Confucian examination system overnight
  4. adopt Western military technology
Show answer

adopt Western military technology. Officials built arsenals, shipyards and schools to resist foreign powers, but limited support and conservative opposition restricted the results.